Very slick puzzle from Bruce. There's a lot to admire here - the theme itself, the quintuple-stacked 5's in each corner, the bisecting grid-spanners across and down, the long downs, and the tricky single-entry points to the corner blocks. This could have been a beast without solid crosses, and there would be a real temptation to load up the 3's with crosswordese.

I'm not sure the car brands in the clues were necessary and might actually have detracted from the challenge, but I wonder if test solvers struggled without them.

I don't think the theme entries themselves need any clarification - maybe non-sports folks would like the confirmation that baseball's Houston Astros play at Minute Maid Park; Atlas was one of the Titans in Greek mythology for the non-classicists among us.

42. Lip-reading alternative: Abbr. : A.S.L. American Sign Language. Did you notice at the start of the singing of the National Anthem at the Superbowl that CBS put a camera on the ASL interpreter for about three seconds, and the producer never showed her again? Somewhat defeats the purpose.

43. Subtlety : NUANCE

44. Writer who used his actual middle name as a pen name : DR. SEUSS

50. Place for a key: Abbr. : IGN. If one of the puzzle's eight cars hadn't put a key in the ignition this morning, that would have been one fewer accident.

This one might have been more interesting had I seen the circles, but as it was I found it to be a bit of a slog. I got the fact that the theme clues all referred to cars early on, but that fact wasn't needed to actually get those answers. The weirdly segmented grid made it hard to get traction in any of the four corners, and I had to accept ASMARA on faith with fingers crossed. REMET? ISHOT? Plus, so many three letter words in one puzzle...

There was a lot to like about this especially the final visual. My oldest son was recently t-boned (he is fine, his car is not) so the subject was on my mind. Steve pointed out all the good stuff so I will say the made up abbreviations...SPR, SYL IGN detracted from my enjoyment. But that said it was a challenge that felt good to finish. Thanks Bruce and Steve

Stumbled a bit with Solid/VALID and Supports/SUSTAINS, but still finished in better than normal Thursday time. Noticed the circles before I started, but forgot to look at them again. Managed to get the theme, so I guess they weren't necessary.

GONDOLA reminded me of last nights W-o-F where we learned that Paris is the country in which you could take a "GONDOLA ride through Venice." Oops, he meant to say France. Pat offered to have the gaffe edited out, but the wife insisted that he leave it in.

This non-sport did remember that the ASTROs play in Minute Maid Park -- the successor name to the infamous Enron Field.

No circles, as usual, but no problems either. Not being too familiars with car models these days, my fills did not leave me brimming with confidence. A bit of luck involved. ASMARA, was all perps. Never knew how DR SUESS arrived at his pen name.

Minute Maid Park. formerly Enron Field until you know what, brought back some Houston memories for me. Being a sports fan, you enter into memory all sorts of trivia, often meaningful to only you. Here's mine with Houston. There Astros opened the Astrodome/ EnronMinute Maid with spring training games & the Yankees were the opponents each time. In their first season, 1962, the Colt 45's opened with a 3 game sweep of the Chicago Cubs. The winning pitchers were Bobby Schantz, Hal Woodeschick,(SP) & Dean Stone. They were all left-handed pitchers. I guess this has always remained in my memory bank because I too am a port sider. Oh well, it's a good bar bet.

Now, that NE corner resisted solution. The Minute Maid clue had me thinking Florida. (I hate the practice of naming arenas for corporations!!) Eventually I remembered the Chevy Astro van. It took longer to remember the Ford Tempo...my mom had one, and it was very forgettable.

What an interesting grid Bruce gave us today, thank you. The circles added some spice to the solve and made sense to the TBONE COLLISIONS.

Not knowing ASMARA did not detract as the crosses filled in nicely. Adrien ARPEL harkens back to a long ago time for those of us of a certain age. And never having read the Harry Potter books nor seen the movies, I had to wait for the TRIO to give me RON.

Bruce,I liked the visual of the car models T-boning each other. Neat theme. Fine expo, Steve.For Granddaddy of them all /ROSE BOWL I was looking for a person, at first.SOLID before VALID. Then I thought of VIPER and that did it.ASMARA was all perps. RAU gave me ARRAU. I listen to NPR radio and frequently hear Claudio ARRAU's interpretations.Pleasant sunny day today. Early morning temps in the 20's. I'll taker that over 85 any day. Zero is way too cold, but 95 or 100 is way too hot. Perhaps more snow mid-week. I hate the responsibility of calling off the Tuesday dance if the roads are not good in time.Alan has gone to work for 2 weeks solid now. Things are looking up and my initiative and patience are returning.

I liked the puzzle but writing the (brand) in parentheses made it too easy. After filling the NW and working my way to SNAILS, STY, & NBA I guessed it might be T-BIRD without reading the clue for 38A. After AOK and INS, and CRASHES wasn't long enough, I wrote COLLISIONS.

ARPEL-first or last name? perps. ARRAU- I'm with you Steve- all crosses. Others requiring perps and guesses were TRIO, ATARI, DR. SEUSS, and IRENE crossing ARRAU with a leap of faith. ASMARA Oil Co. was a hot stock 50 years ago. I picked it in a HS class while the other students picked blue chips. I didn't even know where it was- Ethiopia before Eritrea broke away.

Of all the car models listed in the puzzle, I have personally owned none. We tried an ASTROvan once at work but realized it was useless as a delivery vehicle as it wouldn't hold as much merchandise and the gas mileage was no better than the full sized 3/4 ton Chevy vans.

Hondo- do you remember J.R. Richards for the Astros? I remember when his pitching started going downhill and the papers were writing "Who shot J.R.?" Then he had a stroke and died a few years later. Tragic.

I really enjoyed this one. It had some crunch, but I slowly made my way. Knew some of the cars immediately and not others. Minute Maid in Texas befuddled me as I ran through Florida teams. I also struggled with the abbreviations. Sounded text-y to me. The long runs were impressive. Thanks, Bruce.

Nice walk around the Auto Show, Steve. Also, I have been running a day behind here on puzzles so I haven't been commenting, but your puzzle with C.C. last week was very fine!

Good fun, thanx, Bruce! Terrific write-up, thanx, Steve! A bit of a slow slog for me, though, although I did eventually get 'er done. Last was the NW. Couldn't remember the Ford Focus, which didn't help. Finally remembered the Honda Civic, which gave me a foothold.

Beautiful days lately here in FLL. I've had some British friends as guests in my home for the last month, and, unfortunately for them, much of that time has been cold and/or rainy. Finally gets nice just before they leave this coming Monday. Good friends I met in Portugal 15 years ago, we've visited back and forth ever since. They actually live in Ibiza. I'll be sorry to see them go.

Good to see you and your limericks back, Owen, I always enjoy (and envy) your wit.

Thank you Bruce and Steve. Yeah Steve, my last fill was the guessed A at the intersection of ARPEL & ASMARA. (Down around the corner from Hollywood and Vine.:>)

That was a really fun puzzle. I filled the outer words of each of the four rectangles, and then tried to make a cross by filling the 3rd word down and the 3rd word across in each corner. Almost. Got all the vehicles though.

Then tried to get the two grid spanners with minimal perp help. Tried fender benders across, and realized it was going to be a couple of letters short. PARKED ILLEGALLY came much easier. Sussed it with PARK. Then got TBONE COLLISIONS with TBONE. No circles at my online venue. Didn't need them today.

OSCAR again today They are no longer going to be made in Chicago. Future OSCARs will be bronze and will be made in New York or New Jersey. Somewhere out east.

Nailed SHEER. Got it the other day because of Louis Freeh, but then a mystery writer made a comment that made me study the definition. So it was easy today.

Didn't know that about Dr Seuss, although I read most of his books, and probably read them multiple times. Learning moment.

I did the puzzle on the Mensa site, so there were no circles. However it wasn't an issue because they wouldn't have helped me today. I think I plodded through the puzzle without a clue as to where it was going until it was about 85% done.

There were just enough hooks from the four corners (STRANGLE, ASMARA, DRUIDS and SUSTAINS) to go with the easy fill down the center to help fill in the corners. Again Perps to the rescue and a few mental alphabet runs.

Like others I had to change a few initial fills like ELITE vs. ALIST, EXAMS and TESTS vs. ORALS, and HAGS vs TRIO. I finally figured out the vehicles and was able to finally close the NW corner with the FOCUS and CIVIC.

The cleverness of the grid and car cluing more than made up for the two Naticks I have. What fun!

Musings-A quick peek shows me ARRAU/IRENE and ASMARA/ARPEL were right. Yay me for a “got ‘er done”-I was in a T-BONE crash and the first thing I noticed was the smell of radiator fluid-To get TEMPO, I had to let go of two other definitions of Beat. Duh!-The plaque attached to Voyager 1 PROBE that has reached interstellar space after 35 years. Will Spock figure it out?-Do we in cold weather climes appreciate SPR more?-Lee’s RECON cavalryman J.E.B. Stuart failed to get him intelligence at Gettysburg by raiding instead of reporting-4th grade teacher’s vague lesson plans were of not much USE TO me yesterday-Less common STREWED visited us recently-Built in 1922, the ROSE BOWL is showing is age but but its setting alone is worth maintaining-The rooting of wild pigs is not AOK at KSC but wildlife is protected on Merritt Island-Do you remember when car companies used to UNVEIL their new models in the fall before they all started looking alike?-Gotta go vacuum. How do you think we keep this 49 year marriage going?

Fun and clever theme and execution. A few too many 3 letter entries, but, overall, an enjoyable solve. I did have some trouble breaking open the snails/sty section, but finally got it. Can't believe how long it took to suss out snails, even having _ _ails staring me right in my face.Had elite before A list.

Original and well executed theme today. Quite a technical achievement.

Also illustrates some of the trade-offs constructors face. Those nice corner stacks and the central grid-spanning cross come with a plethora of 3's. That's just how it maps out. And having some lesser quality fill is part of the price for getting the really good stuff in there, too.

Had to google ASMARA. Never could figure out why Chevy named its van after George Jetson's dog.

ELITE? A-TEAM? A-LIST at last.

Yeah - why is Minute Maid in Texas, anyway?

Gee, SS - thanks for the lesson in scansion. Now let's see YOU produce an actual original limerick with real words - that's humorous, makes some sort of sense, and relates to the puzzle of the day. That should be a snap for one as clever as you.

Great frustration in the night when I was struggling through the puzzle and lost it. Gave up and went to bed. This morning the words came easier, but not quickly, then I lost it again. Wind is blowing wildly. I think maybe my cable connection is bad again. Finally managed to fill it.

NW corner was empty except for EVITA until the last. Red-letter run gave me a beginning F and I wanted to STRANGLE myself. Neighbor has a relatively new Ford FOCUS.

PROBE was only on the market a short time back in the '80's (?). One of the city council member's husband bought her this sporty little car-- only one in town. People kept asking her what kind it was and she'd just look at them and refuse to answer. She refused to say PROBE. It got to be such a joke, she made her husband take it back and get something different. I guess she wasn't the only one because the model name soon disappeared.

Gondola not GOat path up the mountain.

Thought ROSE BOWL was going to be some man's name.

Disliked the pillar of abbrevs. down the center of the puzzle. Some of my cars crashed there I think.

Beef cuts: Someone mentioned they thought a restaurant used aged beef last night. If the beef tastes good, believe me, it is aged. Beef tastes awful if cooked right after it is butchered. We had a new processor once who didn't age the choice beef we raised and it was inedible. Really nasty. My husband went roaring back with the whole load. The processor was out of business before the end of the month. The whole carcass (stripped of innards, skin, etc.) needs to be hung in cold rooms for at least 10 days to 2 wks. Don't know any more about it than that.

Dove into this one quickly with Civic. It may have been a tad too easy with the manufacturer provided, but I didn't mind that at all. We've had 3 Civics and 1 Tempo. None of the others. Lots of learning moments such as Che being the narrator of Evita and Seuss being a real name. And a very clever theme. Enjoyed it a lot.

Still, had two complete personal naticks with Arpel/Asmara and Arrau/Irene. Guessed both correctly, but had very little confidence. All's well that ends.

Thanks Steve!

Agree with what PK said about beef needing to age. 10 days minimum, 2 weeks is better. Any less is criminal.

Had to take a break and then come back to get TRIO. Otherwise a satisfying solve with a nifty theme. Solve was made more difficult by relative isolation of the corners. Had elite before A-LIST. @ 59a, wagged LEO and waited on the perps for Roman num. ASMARA helped with NE.IGN - My latest vehicle is keyless; just need the fob on you and foot on the brake; push the start button.Favorite clue was for SYL.

Well, I had trouble with this one even though I got most of the intersecting car models in the corners, but I've never heard of a car crash as a T-BONE COLLISION. (Thank goodness I've had only one tiny car bump in my years of driving--knock on wood).

So I didn't get everything, although I enjoyed what I got--especially IRENE, DR. SEUSS, and EVITA.

Steve, I was amazed to see that D.H. Lawrence poem. I've written about his novels, but totally forgot his poetry. Very interesting--a little off-beat--but that's Lawrence for you. Many thanks.

I do remember the JR Richard tragedy. I did not follow it closely, but I wouldn't be surprised if you told me a BIG lawsuit was filed by JR's family. Didn't the team go public and accuse him of "dogging" it? I had no interest in the team. The stuff I posted earlier was minutia that for some unknown reason has remained embedded in my memory over the years.

Hello everybody. This was a terrific puzzle. Had all the same experiences with it that have already been described, such as HAGS before TRIO and ELITE before ALIST. Also has LASSO before NOOSE. When I was kid growing up in cowboy country, a NOOSE was for hanging people and calf-roping was done with a LASSO. A LARIAT was a lasso used for shows.

Never owned any of those cars, but we rented a Ford Tempo about 10 years ago in which we toured northern Arizona. We thought it was actually a pretty nice car, but maybe that was in comparison to the old Datsun 510 we owned at that time. Both of them served us well. Another time we rented a Dodge Intrepid, which was actually a pretty nice car, too. Much fancier than the Tempo.

What a fine pzl - a work of art! Congratulations to Mr. Haight for a well-wrought symmetrical grid, a smart theme, and clever cuing. I didn't get why the COLLISIONS had to be T-BONEs at first, but when I looked again and saw the consistent way the auto models intersected one another, I was all the more impressed. The only error I made in starting was LASSO for NOOSE, and that was after rejecting RIATA, another real possibility.

Musings 2-I got a call to sub for a half day for $67.50 and here I am teaching about abolition-Thanks again for the well wishes for completing our 49th year of marriage and entering our 50th. -YR, glad to see things doing better at your house

Thanks for the link the JEB Stuart's photo. We used to live on his street in Richmond VA. Of all the equestrian statues along nearby Monument Avenue, Major General Stuart’s Statue is the most animated, most striking, with his horse's hoof lifted as a sign of his death from battle wounds. Stuart's flair for drama appealed to me; he cultivated a reputation as a womanizin', hard-drinkin' hard fightin' cavalier. But his southern allegiance was a turnoff, and his "dereliction" at Gettysburg seemed a perfect illustration of the vice of vanity. The main fault of Lee's strategy at Gettysburg belonged to Lee himself, but Stuart's failure to keep his chief informed contributed greatly to the Union victory. Apparently Stuart was more interested in being famed for a series of small personal victories than in completing reconnaissance for Lee. Just like an Aesop fable, the moral of Stuart's "glorious" ride is that "pride goeth before a fall."

Anon (11:16), well, I was just about to invite you out for lunch at the new, expensive Italian place. But since I read your post as snide and insincere, I guess I'll scratch your name off the list. Oh well... Let's see who's next on the list?? Hey AnonT, are you available for lunch?